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sustraiii · 1 month

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TEAM ZRCN ARC 1 REWRITE - CHAPTER 11

Dinner with Zelde's parents - it is as bad as you think it will be.

Xanthos

The plan had been to only stay a night whilst the storm passed. However, the storm turned out to be worse than expected and a night became three.

For the first night, Xanthos had been eager to stay in such a large house, and finally learn more about Zelde and her life. By the first morning, Xanthos was eager to leave and could understand why Zelde was so reluctant to speak about her past.

The vast majority of Zelde's family had been welcoming enough, if a little too stiff and formal for Xanthos's tastes. But Oriana Serac had actively gone out of their way to make all of them feel unwelcome, none more so than her daughter.

Luckily by the third morning, the weather had cleared and Cordovan messaged Olive Vines to inform her they would be with them soon. Before they were to leave they had been invited to lunch.

Zelde had been reluctant to agree but Oriana rather snidely insisted they stay, stating that she did not know when she would ever see her daughter again. Xanthos hoped for Zelde's sake it was never.

After being urged to freshen up again, Guilford had led the four of them upstairs, directing them to two separate rooms to freshen up. Cordovan and Xanthos in one and Neela and Zelde in the other. They had only been left alone for a few minutes when Guilford had returned with a pile of folded clothing, which he proceeded to hand out to Xanthos. He must have made a face, as the older man was quick to explain that it was Oriana’s insistence he ‘dress up’, as his current outfit wasn’t appropriate for her lunch. Xanthos had frowned but he quietly thanked Guilford and took the clothes. Besides, they were guests here, the least he could do was abide by their rules.

Xanthos nervously adjusted the collar of his shirt, finding that no matter what he did, it didn’t seem to sit comfortably on him. He caught his reflection in the mirror and shook his head. He did not like wearing such formal clothes, he disliked the way they looked on him and found them too constricting.

Xanthos adjusted the shirt collar one more time when Cordovan exited the bathroom.

Cordovan took one look at him and a small smirk formed on his face.

“I know, I know, I look hideous.”

“Actually, I was going to say it suits you,” Cordovan said. “That’s probably the smartest thing I’ve seen you wear that wasn't our academy uniform.”

“Oh, uh thanks,” Xanthos responded with a small laugh.

Having now freshened up, the two headed downstairs, where they were told to wait for the girls in the hallway by Guilford. Cordovan waited quietly, eyes focused on the doors, whilst Xanthos found himself looking around the hall some more, taking in the impressive architecture of the home.

Both their attentions were caught when Zelde and Neela descended the stairs. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cordovan look away, concealing the blush that had begun to form on his cheeks. Although even if hadn’t tried to hide his blush, Xanthos wasn’t sure Zelde would have noticed, as her gaze was firmly trained on him, more specifically his clothing.

“You didn't have to change,” She said.

“Your mother insisted,” Guilford explained to Zelde for him. Zelde pulled a face but didn't argue and allowed them to be guided into the dining room by Guilford, with a table that was already set with an array of food and drink awaited them. The Sewicks were already picking at some plates of food, so thankfully, the team did not have to wait to be invited to sit.

Xanthos went for some simple food options, filling his plate with rice, some assorted vegetables, and a chicken breast. He was not usually the sort to be so plain with his food choices, but half of what was on offer looked so unappealing, that he had to wonder if it even really was food.

As they ate - or in Xanthos’s case, nibbled - quiet conversation filled the air. It was Callaway who talked the most, asking a vast array about the team’s experiences as huntsmen. Xanthos was more than happy to answer him, even if most of the questions Callaway had asked over the past three days had been much the same. Everyone seemed to be content to answer him, but it was a little difficult to keep up with, what with all the questions. Although he himself did not ask any questions, Albus seemed a little interested in what was being said, and Xanthos noted he listened intently, occasionally saying something to prompt a further response. Unsurprisingly, Oriana seemed disinterested in the conversation, her only response being to glare at her husband or son when began to speak about it.

Xanthos couldn’t help but wonder what her problem was. Sure she was a wealthy, upper-class Atlesian woman, but that was hardly any excuse for her dismissive behaviour.

“So the Ursa-”

“Callaway,” Oriana cut her son off with a sharp glare. The woman was currently eating a bowl of soup and had set her spoon down briefly to address her son. “Must you insist on speaking about such a gorey subject whilst we’re having lunch? It is putting me off of my soup.”

Callaway lowered his head. “Sorry, mother.”

They ate in silence for a solid ten minutes, before Oriana, now having finished her meal, broke the silence.

“So, tell me a little about yourselves,” Oriana said, her blue eyes glancing around the table. “Zelde hasn’t spoken to us in years, so I know nothing about any of you.” Xanthos was fighting the urge to remind her she had mostly ignored them and spoken derisively towards them over the past three days. “Do any of you have any relatives in your family who trained as huntsmen? Did they approve of your decision to become one?”

Xanthos shifted a little at her last question. He noted Oriana glanced at her daughter for a long moment as she asked it, and he suddenly felt very uncomfortable as if intruding on a private argument. He couldn’t help but wonder if Zelde leaving to train as a huntress drove the wedge between them.

Neela was the first to answer. “Well, I was born and raised in Highpoint, as the youngest of three. I presume you know my family - the Oxfords?” Both Albus and Oriana gave a small nod before Neela continued. “None of my immediate family were huntsmen, though my brother wanted to train as one when he was younger. He didn’t have the stomach for it, so pulled out the month before he was due to leave for school. My parents seemed a little nervous when I expressed a similar interest and tried to talk me out of it for a while until they saw how committed I was!”

“Did you have any prior training before going to Atlas Academy?” Oriana asked.

“Oh yes, I went to a primary training academy first. Pelorus Academy, if you are familiar with it,” Neela responded. She then looked at Cordovan and gave him a nudge. “Cordovan and I were in the same year.”

The Sewicks turned to look at Cordovan, who had to set down his fork abruptly to speak. “Yes, we both attended the same primary academy. I was born and raised in Atlas, at least for the most part anyway. Both of my parents were huntsmen, so we travelled around a lot.” Cordovan explained. “I suppose having two parents as huntsmen does end up inspiring you quite a bit.”

“Were they well-known at all?” Albus asked, and Xanthos was surprised to see that he looked genuinely interested.

“A little,” Cordovan admitted with a small shrug. “They both enjoyed mildly successful careers at least. My mother joined the Atlesian Army years ago and still works as a specialist for them. As for my father, well...he’s around.”

Oriana sniffed a little at this remark, which finally drew Zelde’s attention to the conversation. Silver eyes snapped to her mother immediately and narrowed them in response. Oriana picked up on this pretty quickly, and although they said nothing, it was clear they both had plenty to say to one another.

Not wanting an argument to break out, Xanthos was quick to jump in with his own response to Oriana’s earlier question. “Unlike the rest of my team here, I was born and raised in Vacuo. My mother is about the furthest thing you can get from a huntress. Not too sure about my dad though, he disappeared shortly before my sister was born.” Xanthos was ten at the time but had never been particularly close with his father. Chrysanthos had always been a mysterious man and left many unanswered questions in his wake when he up and left them. “I’m not sure where the interest in becoming a huntsman came from, to be honest with you. I was watching coverage of a Vytal festival a few years back and there was this really amazing Vacuo team. They didn’t get very far, but I was so in awe with them and what they could do that I knew I wanted to be a huntsman too.” Xanthos laughed a little as he recounted this tale. “I told my mother that same night I wanted to join an academy. I think she was a little horrified at first because she tried to talk me out of it for days. When she saw how set on it I was she did give in thankfully. I think that as long as I was happy she could accept it.”

“Hmm, typical Vacuo parenting for you there,” Oriana said, looking at her husband as she spoke. Albus Sewick stared at his wife in surprise before looking nervously over at Xanthos. Luckily, Albus seemed to have much more tact than his wife, so for that sake alone he would have spared him from the bitter remark he was cooking up.

Luckily, he did not need to respond, as Zelde had him covered. “Mother, do not speak to my friend like that,” Zelde hissed in a low voice.

“Where have your manners gone, Zelde?” Oriana asked. “You should know better than to speak back to your parents.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, you’re hardly a parent,” Zelde retorted.

From the look that passed between father and son, they clearly had some idea of what was soon to follow, and in truth perhaps the rest of ZRCN had an idea too, based on their earlier interactions with Sewick matriarch. If anything Xanthos was just surprised to see Zelde stirring up trouble rather than trying to avoid it.

What came from Oriana’s mouth was a slew of horrid remarks to her daughter, claiming she was ungrateful for throwing away the life she could have so easily had, selfish for not taking into consideration her family’s feelings, of how she was simply wasting her life. The whole scene was uncomfortable to sit through, and after exchanging a few glances with Cordovan and Neela, Xanthos knew he couldn’t sit quietly any longer.

“You should stop talking to your daughter like that,” Xanthos advised, making her turn to look at him. “Considering how insufferable you have been in the days since I’ve met you, I’d say it’s a small mercy that Zelde opted to leave and become a huntress, it spared her becoming a heartless bitch like yourself.”

Albus’s mouth formed a small ‘o’ shape, though if he was offended by the slander towards his wife, he didn’t rush to her defence. Surprisingly Zelde mouthed a silent “Thank you” his way for helping her, and he simply nodded. Unsurprisingly, Oriana was not impressed with being called a bitch. She rose from her seat, one hand hitting the table and the other clenching into a tight fist in her rage.

“How dare you speak to me like that!” She snarled. “You’re nothing but an insignificant street rat from Vacuo, yet you have the audacity to come into my own home and speak down to me.”

“Oriana, enough!” Albus urged. For once, his voice rose above a quiet whisper.

Oriana paused for a moment, eyes passing over each of the team in question. “I hope it was worth throwing the life we gave you for these people. And when this life inevitably goes wrong, you should know, there will be no place for you in my house anymore.”

With this, Zelde rose from her chair, dabbing at her mouth with a napkin before letting it fall to the table. She proceeded to gesture to her teammates to stand and follow her, before looking off to Guilford who had been stood quietly in the corner this whole time. “Guilford would you be so kind as to gather our things, I think it is time we ought to go.”

He nodded simply and hurried out of the room. If Xanthos had been in his place, he would have been thankful for the excuse to leave.

“Yes, I do believe, you’ve outstayed your welcome wouldn’t you agree, Albus?” Oriana prompted, looking to her husband for support.

“No…” Albus muttered quietly. “It is you who has outstayed your welcome, Oriana.”

Oriana’s confidence seemed to flicker, evidently not used to her husband answering back to her. “Albus?”

“For too long I have stood by and done nothing. Watched as you belittled me, my family, our children,” His voice cracked as he said that. “Enough is enough, Oriana. I’m done with this - our marriage. I’m done with you.”

“Father…?” Zelde blinked.

Xanthos wasn’t sure what to say or do at that moment. The tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife.

“This is your fault!” Oriana yelled, making a move for where Zelde was standing. “You should have never come back here.” Thankfully, Albus caught Oriana by the wrist and kept her in place.

Albus gave an apologetic glance to Zelde and then the rest of Team ZRCN. “I’m sorry you all had to see this.”

Albus gave his daughter a knowing look and she nodded. With a tilt of the head, Zelde gestured for her team to join her in leaving, which they did so without question. She paused to look at Albus and Callaway.

“Father. Cal…” Her voice trailed off as she looked at her brother. He simply offered her a warm smile and a gentle nod. The group carried on walking, before Zelde stopped by her mother, standing to her side. Neither woman directly looked at each other, with Oriana staring down the table refusing to make eye contact, and Zelde merely glancing at her out of the corner of her eye. “Mother, it has been a pleasure as always.” She leaned forward and gave her mother a peck on the cheek before they walked out of the room.

Guilford was not waiting for them when they entered the hallways, though as requested, he had gathered their clothes, as well as their weapons and the meagre supplies they had bought with them. None of them wanted to linger here for much longer, so they gathered their things and quickly left the house. Once they had passed beyond the metal gates, Zelde’s calm persona cracked, and a few tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Are you alright, Zelde?” Neela asked, tentatively touching her arm.

“I’m fine,” Zelde insisted. She took a deep inhale, as if to steady herself and began moving forward. “Let’s find Helia Vines.”

#team zrcn fic #team zrcn #zelde sewick #xanthos ravindra #cordovan radcliff #neela oxford #albus sewick #oriana serac #callaway sewick #guilford #zrcn rewrite

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room-surprise · 4 months

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Evidence that Kabru from Delicious in Dungeon is Indian, a Masterpost

(Some of this info is taken from my upcoming essay about the names and cultural origins of all the characters in Dungeon Meshi. There's a link in the source to the AO3 version of this essay.)

Since Kabru’s first appearance in the anime is upon us, I wanted to write something that compiles all the evidence we have that Kabru is meant to be a person of South or Central Asian ethnicity, or at least whatever the equivalent to that is in the Dungeon Meshi world.

Ryoko Kui can and does draw people of many different ethnicities, and the way she draws Kabru matches the way she draws other Asian characters in Dungeon Meshi. He doesn’t look Black, or Hispanic, or any other ethnicity because he isn’t supposed to. He looks like a dark-skinned South or Central Asian person, because that’s what Ryoko Kui probably intends him to be.

So let’s go through the evidence! (There are no spoilers for the plot of Dungeon Meshi below, but there ARE spoilers for Kabru's backstory as explained in the manga, and in extra materials like the Daydream Hour and Adventurer's Guide book.)

KABRU’S NAME

The Dungeon Meshi Adventurer's Bible tells us Kabru’s real name is unknown. There are other characters whose real names are only told to us in the Adventurer's Bible and were never revealed in the manga, but then Kabru, Thistle and Izutsumi’s entries simply say their real names are unknown, and though Kui could tell us their true names, she doesn’t. I assume this means that the characters themselves don’t know what their real names are, and that the names they go by are not their birth names, but this is only a supposition on my part.

KABRU THE MOUNTAIN

Kabru (काब्रु) is the name of a mountain on the border of Nepal and India, and part of the Himalayan range. It’s the 65th tallest mountain in the world and it is very snowy and icy, with frequent avalanches. Because of this, even though it’s not the tallest mountain in the world, climbing it is challenging, and is not often attempted. Those few that have managed to climb it consider it a major achievement.

“This prohibitively fearful icefall… had thwarted numerous expeditions, perhaps even the 'thought' of attempting the mountain… Unstable seracs of the icefall, a complex maze of chasms, and delicate snow bridges spanning seemingly never ending, near bottomless crevasses… Each time the members stepped into the icefall, they stood a good chance of never returning.” (Kabru - Mountain of the Gods, Major A. Abbey, Himalayan Journal 52, 1996, editor Harish Kapadia)

WHAT DOES KABRU’S NAME MEAN?

Kabru is a character that is known for being very good at charming people, but who doesn’t express himself honestly, because he’s trying to manipulate the people and situations around him in order to maintain control at all times. I think nobody really knows who Kabru is deep inside, maybe not even Kabru himself, so a remote, hostile, icy mountain that’s hard to climb seems like an extremely appropriate name.

Some of the oldest English sources I found regarding Kabru suggest that Kabru isn’t the correct local name for the mountain (a common problem in early Himalayan exploration by Europeans) and might just be a descriptor, or that it’s a misspelling.

This makes the name seem even more appropriate, since Kui’s told us Kabru’s true name is unknown. It’s possible that Kabru was a place-name or a descriptor that Milsiril (Kabru’s elven foster mother) was given when she picked up a traumatized 7 year old Kabru, and she just started using it as his name, and that even he doesn’t remember his real name thanks to his severe trauma.

The fact that people in the real world can’t seem to agree on the mountain Kabru’s name, or what it means, reminds me of the running gag of Laios repeatedly getting Kabru’s name wrong in the manga.

"All the people near the Kabru massif call it 'Kaboor'." (The Alpine Journal, 1921-22 Volume 34, Edited by George Yeld and J. P. Farrar) “It is also said that the name applies to a peak close to Kinchinjunga on the southeast, and not to the peak known to Europeans as Kabru… [The real name is] Pahung Ri [Pauhunri].” (Appendix I: Place Names in Darjeeling. The appendix says it was “compiled mainly from an article written by Colonel Waddell and published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Vol. LX, part I, 1891)”) “Kangchen is a Tibetan name… the Sikkhimese use it as the name for the peak called Kabru by Europeans.” (Charles Bell, Dyhrenfurth's Himalaya (Berlin, 1931)) “...Kyabru or the horn of protection. The name is… Kabur… possibly a corruption of Kangbur or the swelling of snow; it might also mean the white swelling (kar-bur).” (Appendix I: Place Names in Darjeeling.) “Kabru literally means the 'White Avalanche' peak (Ka means 'white' and bru means 'avalanche').” (Kabru - Mountain of the Gods, Major A. Abbey, Himalayan Journal 52, 1996, editor Harish Kapadia)

I’ve seen one other mountaineering article cite the “white avalanche” meaning, and I think it’s plausible since the Appendix says it can mean “white swelling” or “swelling of snow”, which may very well be a literal translation for “white avalanche”.

WHAT ABOUT UTAYA? IS THAT INDIAN TOO?

Utaya means “raised” or “uplifted” in Hindi, but it’s also a real village and a Japanese boy’s name.

Utaya (ウタヤ) is the name of the village that Kabru was raised in before his mother died and he was adopted by the elf Milsiril. Utaya is located in the southeast of the Western Continent. It’s worth noting that Kabru probably wasn’t born in Utaya, since his mother had to flee from her home to keep Kabru alive, so Utaya may be some distance away from his birth place… Not so far that a woman with a newborn baby couldn’t survive the trip, but far enough that her husband’s family gave up on chasing her. So Kabru was probably born in a close-by area.

In the real world, Utaya (Yakut: Утайа) is in an extremely rural and isolated area with a population of less than a hundred people. It’s located in the Sakha Republic, which is in the Northeastern part of Asia in the Russian Federation. The Yakut/Sakha are a Siberian Turkic people.

The Turkic peoples are a collection of diverse ethnic groups of West, Central, East, and North Asia as well as parts of Europe, who speak Turkic languages.

Early and medieval Turkic groups exhibited a wide range of both East Asian and West-Eurasian physical appearances and genetic origins, in part through long-term contact with neighboring peoples such as Iranian, Mongolic, Tocharian, Uralic/Yeniseian peoples, and others. Turkic peoples share, to varying degrees, non-linguistic characteristics like cultural traits, ancestry from a common gene pool, and historical experiences.

JAPANESE MEANINGS FOR UTAYA

Utaya can be a Japanese boy’s name with several different meanings, depending on which kanji it’s spelled with. In most of the spellings: Poetry, sing a poem, singing, compose poetry

In many of the spellings: The place where the sun shines, it's been a long time, distant, big, to shoot with a bow, to swear, affirmation, question.

The Utaya disaster happened a long time ago.

If Utaya is up in the mountains above the clouds it’s a place where the sun shines brightly.

Kabru has sworn to himself that he will prevent another Utaya tragedy from happening.

In only a few of the spellings: to mend, feathers, wings, a word for counting birds and rabbits, sort them out, washing with water to separate the good from the bad, roof, house with a roof, a world covered with a big sky, infinite space, song that praises the Buddha, Eight.

Counting birds and rabbits makes me think of divination and also that the people of Utaya were like little birds and rabbits (small prey animals) to the monsters that devoured them.

Separating the good and the bad could hint to the “judgment” of Utaya and the greed of its people that led to their downfall, also sorting through things to separate good and bad is something that’s done with food and other resources.

The Himalayan region is often referred to as the “roof of the world”, with a big open sky above it.

The infinite could refer to the dimension the demon comes from, or to the sky above the mountains.

Buddhism is a common religion in the Himalayan region, and eight has auspicious connotations in Buddhism.

With all that in mind, Utaya as a name for Kabru’s home village is an interesting choice, and adds another layer to his origins, maybe suggesting not just North Indian/Himalayan, but Central or North Asian cultural influence as well.

It is also possible that the name is just telling us that Utaya is “up” in the mountains, or that it was “uplifted” by the wealth of the dungeon, or even that Kabru was “raised” there… The Japanese name meanings are also extremely fascinating and hint at similar ideas, as well as the tragedy that happened to Utaya.

WHY ELSE DO YOU THINK KABRU AND UTAYA ARE HIMALAYAN?

In the real world, the Himalayan mountain range is an extremely popular tourist destination, and the amount of people who want to visit and attempt to climb the mountains far outpaces the local ability to support it. This makes me think of the dungeon of Utaya and how people overcrowded it in their desire to conquer and exploit it.

Dungeons as an unsustainable way for locals to make a living that leads to the destruction of their homes when the dungeon inevitably collapses is a major plot point in Dungeon Meshi, so I think the parallel is likely intentional. Characters often talk about someone “conquering” the dungeon, and “conquer” is also the terminology commonly used for climbing a mountain. This terminology obviously has a hostile, imperialist subtext in the real world, since it’s most commonly used by outsiders talking about proving their strength by climbing a mountain.

Also, there are local legends in the areas surrounding Mt. Kabru that there is a valley of immortality hidden on its slopes, which reminds me of the way that the dungeons can grant conditional immortality to the people inside of them.

This image of Utaya could be showing us a village built on a mountainside. The house shapes seem a bit more Middle Eastern than Nepali/Indian, but it’s not a detailed drawing and the roof styles are a mix of flat and peaked.

CULTURE

In the Daydream Hour sketchbook, Ryoko Kui included a small comic about characters sharing desserts from their home countries. A young Kabru is shown enthusiastically trying to share an unnamed sweet, and he is interrupted by his elven foster mother, who insists he present a type of elven cake instead. We know that Kabru hates this type of cake, and he seems disappointed to have to eat it and talk about it.

The white balls in Kabru’s dessert are very likely meant to be an Indian sweet called rasgulla (literally "syrup filled ball"). Rasgulla are a dessert popular in the eastern part of South Asia, made from ball-shaped dumplings of chhena dough, cooked in light sugar syrup. While it is near-universally agreed upon that the dessert originated in the eastern Indian subcontinent, the exact origin is disputed. Rasgulla are as culturally important to the Bengal and Odisha regions of India as Parmesan cheese is to the region of Parma in Italy.

Rasgulla are also popular in Nepal, where they are called rasbari.

KABRU’S PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Kabru is one of several characters in Dungeon Meshi with clearly non-European features: he has brown skin and thick black/dark brown curly hair. He has almond-shaped eyes with long, dark lashes (fans like to joke that he’s wearing eyeliner). All of these are traits common to people from the Indian subcontinent. His blue eyes are not common for someone with his skin/hair color, but blue or green eyes are not unheard of in that region either.

(Indian man with blue eyes)

Blue or light eyes are often a cause for discrimination, like what Kabru experienced as a child. More on this in a moment.

Kabru is 5’7” (170cm) tall, which is short for a Northern European man (180), tall for a Nepali man (162cm), but close to the average height of Indian men (177cm). He has a slender build, which is also common for Asian people in general, and South Asian men in particular.

Compared to the European-looking tall-men in Dungeon Meshi (such as Laios, Falin, Delgal, Marcille’s father), Kabru’s facial features look more like the other Asian characters, such as Toshiro and his party.

CAN DARK-SKINNED PEOPLE HAVE BLUE EYES?

Yes. Light-colored eyes are very uncommon in parts of the world where most people have dark eyes, since dark eyes are a dominant trait in real-world human beings. That means that in order for two parents with dark eyes to have a child with light eyes, both parents need to have a recessive light-eyes gene (or for there to be an illness or genetic mutation), and that’s rare in populations that don’t have a lot of light-eyed people to begin with.

THEN WHY DO SO MANY DARK-SKINNED CHARACTERS HAVE BLUE EYES?

Anime and manga often give characters with dark skin light colored eyes instead of allowing them to have brown or black eyes, which is much more common in real life. It’s a hurtful design trope that makes many readers feel that their natural dark eyes are somehow ugly or inferior to blue eyes.

This trope is used over and over again by authors who want their characters to look “cool” and “exotic”, and for their eyes to be high-contrast to make it easier to show their emotions.

I don’t think this is what Ryoko Kui is doing in Dungeon Meshi.

UNREALISTIC HAIR AND EYE COLOR COMBOS IN ANIME

In a lot of anime/manga, blue eyes (regardless of skin color) don’t actually mean anything in the narrative, in the same way characters having green or pink hair doesn’t mean anything, the colors are non-diegetic, they don’t actually exist in the world, like the music that plays in the background without an on-screen source.

It’s an artistic shorthand to make characters visually stand out, instead of giving them all black hair and eyes like most real-life Japanese people… Which is what most anime/manga characters are meant to be: Japanese people.

Dungeon Meshi has a large cast of characters that are explicitly meant to be non-Japanese. We know this because there’s a group of characters that are Japanese, and they’re drawn differently from everyone else, they wear ethnically Japanese clothing, and have ethnically Japanese names.

Unlike other series, where eye and hair color don’t mean anything, Dungeon Meshi has no unrealistic skin, hair, or eye color combinations.

(Except for the elves, who seem to have different genetics than real world-humans. I’ll get into that another time.)

Ryoko Kui must be aware of the dark skin, blue-eyes design trope, because if she gave Kabru blue eyes just because she thought it looked good, surely she would have made some of the other Asian or dark-skinned characters have light eyes. Out of 9 Asian or dark-skinned tall-man characters, Kabru is the only one with blue eyes.

Kabru having light-colored eyes is central to his story, and Kui talks about it.

KABRU’S STORY AND WHY HIS BLUE EYES MATTER

Kabru’s father and his family tried to kill Kabru when he was born because he had blue eyes. Kabru’s mother ran away, and ended up raising Kabru by herself in Utaya. She didn’t try to return home to her own birth family, but instead struggled to raise a child completely on her own with no money or support, which implies she had no other options, due to the fear people of their region have for people with blue eyes.

This is a real thing that used to happen frequently in areas where most of the population has dark eyes, and it still happens to this day.

In a realistic story, this is logically what would happen to a character with dark skin born with blue eyes in a place like the Utaya region. It’s rare for manga or anime to show dark-skinned blue-eyed characters facing this.

WHAT IS THE “EVIL EYE”?

The “evil eye” is a supernatural belief in a curse brought about by a person looking at you. The belief in the evil eye has existed since prehistory, as long as 5,000 years ago. It is estimated that around 40% of the modern world's population believes in the evil eye. This concept is most common across the Mediterranean, the Balkans, the Middle East, and Central and South Asia, areas where light-colored eyes are uncommon.

In areas where light-colored eyes are rare, people with green eyes, and especially blue eyes, are thought to bestow the curse, intentionally or unintentionally. Just one look from a blue-eyed person is often considered enough to inflict a curse.

One of the most famous and widespread talismans against the evil eye is the nazar, a glass amulet featuring concentric circles in dark blue, white, light blue and black. It’s supposed to “bounce” the curse away from the wearer.

HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO KABRU?

Imagine Kabru growing up in a village surrounded by people wearing and hanging talismans that look like his eyes, because the people around him think blue eyes are evil. They call his mother a witch for birthing him, and a whore because she doesn’t have a husband. Imagine parents forbidding their children from playing with or even talking to Kabru. People crossing the street to get away from him, or chasing him away by throwing rocks.

I think the reason young Kabru was able to learn how to speak some kobold is likely because he was so heavily ostracized by the other tall-men around him, the only children he could occasionally interact with in Utaya were kobolds, who might not share the same cultural superstitions that the tall-man do.

This childhood trauma, combined with Kabru’s experience of the dungeon collapse in Utaya, and being raised by an elf that treated him more like a pet than a human being, set Kabru up as a character who has never had a home where he belongs. He has been an outsider from the instant he was born, and every place he has lived treats him as an “other.”

To his father’s family, he was a curse. To his mother, although she loved him, he was a burden. To the people of Utaya, he was a monster. To the elves, he’s a tall-man baby (no matter how old he gets) with funny looking eyes, to the people on Merini Island, he’s a foreigner from the West with elven ways and education.

CONCLUSION

I wanted to write this because I know some people will see Kabru in the anime for the first time today and think "Oh, another dark skinned blue eyed character! This is a bad character design that is evidence that the author is racist at worst or ignorant at best.” And I don’t think that’s a fair assessment of Ryoko Kui’s work in Dungeon Meshi.

This isn’t to say that Ryoko Kui has never done anything wrong, or that her work couldn’t be more inclusive, or that there’s no way in which she could improve.

But there are pages and pages of artwork she’s done that shows she cares about these issues, and I think it’s worth celebrating when someone makes that kind of effort with their artwork.

ANYWAY…

If you’ve read this far, you’re very strong hahaha. I hope you enjoyed this essay. I’ll be publishing more soon when I finish my Dungeon Meshi research on the names and cultures of all the characters. Wish me luck!

#dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #dunmeshi #kabru #my stuff #analysis #character of color #theories #Dungeon Meshi Research

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